On November 17, 2024, Parents Defending Education asked the Boston Area Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate Boston Public Schools in Boston, Massachusetts. The request claims the district is breaking Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that bans employers from discriminating against workers based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
The district’s materials describe a group for “White Staff and Parents Challenging Racism,” which sets a goal to “Learn More about Each Other as White People.” Another group, the “White School Leaders Affinity Group,” has a mission to “educat[e], support, and respectfully challeng[e] one another as white people,” and its curriculum is only for “white principals.” A district training manual, “BPS Staff Affinity Groups: Guidelines and Best Practices,” encourages forming staff affinity groups based on how employees identify, including by race.
Defending Education urges the EEOC to investigate every claim in its request, fix Boston Public Schools’s illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint below:
